Marvel’s ‘Guardians’ lands $94.3M at box office

LOS ANGELES — “Guardians of the Galaxy” is already orbiting $100 million at the box office.

Marvel Studios’ space adventure starring Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana as intergalactic mercenaries earned $94.3 million in its debut weekend, giving “Guardians” the biggest opening for a film released in the traditionally low-key month of August, a record previously held by the $69.2 million debut of 2007’s “The Bourne Ultimatum.”

The out-of-this-world launch also makes “Guardians” the third-largest opening of 2014, behind the $100 million debut of “Transformers: Age of Extinction” in June and the $95 million opening of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” in April.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are: